Late Nights and Early Days
by SupaGirl-3
Summary: While hiding from the firenation, Sokka, Aang and Katara meet a girl that has a strange connnection with Sokka and Katara, and she knows the gaang's secrets. M is to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Sokka walked up to the campsite, with many small twigs.

"Sokka, you were supposed to get firewood." Aang said.

"I did!" Sokka said being offended.

"Oh. Um...sorry..." Aang replied, putting his head down.

Just then Suki came out of her tent, in her Fire Nation outfit.

"Well? What do you think?" She asked.

Sokka dropped the twigs. He stared for a while. Aang's eyes followed the twigs falling and stared at them even after they had hit the ground.

"You okay?" Suki asked curiously. Sokka stared.

Katara causally walked up and stopped at her brother. Then, she slapped him so hard that he fell.

"What?" Sokka shouted.

They all laughed.

Katara looked at the fire, with an upset look.

"We're out of food... We can go to the village tomorrow!" She instantly seemed happy again.

"Ugh.........Fine." Sokka said lazily.

They all sat on logs near the fire. Suki leaned on Sokka. Aang sat next to Katara. Toph sat next to

Aang, then looked curiously.

"Where's Zuko?"

They all looked around, calling his name. There was no answer. They got up and started to look. Katara had a scared look.

"What if the Fire Nation caught him? Or if he ran away? What if this was all an act? What if he's in trouble? Maybe Azula caught him! Or Momo accidently-"

"I'm glad that you're worried, but I'm right here." Zuko's familiar voice answered.

"What? Never mind, where did you go?" She thought then quickly used her bending to freeze him to a tree. "You betrayed us didn't you?!" She accused.

"Not this again." Zuko said to himself. "We've been over this. I'm not going to betray you; I'm on your side. I went for a walk. Calm down Princess" He smiled. After Sokka started to say that he was like a prince, to get out of work; Zuko started a game by always treating them as royalty. Katara hated it, while Sokka was happy to get respect, even though it was sarcasm.

"Don't call me that!" Katara was angry, Zuko didn't seem to care. He broke the ice, and went on his knees.

"Yes your majesty."

Katara looked angry, but went back to the fire and sat down. Everyone followed. After a few hours of sitting and talking, they went to bed.

In the morning, Katara was first up, cleaning and getting herself ready to go to the village. Sokka began to pull his hair up. Zuko sat sadly, knowing that he couldn't go. Toph sat next to Zuko. Waited a few seconds of silence, and then punched him in the arm; causing him to fall off the log, and onto the dirt. Immediately, Toph stole his spot. Suki and Aang laughed.

"Ready?" Katara said eagerly.

"I'm gonna stay behind, incase Toph kills Zuko while your gone." Suki said staring at Zuko on the floor, knowing that he couldn't move Toph from his spot.

"Um… okay, we'll be back soon." Sokka said as they left.

At the village

As they walked through the village, they could hear many people trying to sell things to them. Katara went to buy the food, leaving the boys. Sokka looked around then grabbed Aang. They walked for a few minutes, when they noticed a line of men outside some building. They watched the line for a minute before they were interrupted.

"Get to the back of the line!" Men yelled at them. Sokka quickly grabbed Aang and ran behind a building.

"What's the line for Sokka?" Aang asked.

"Only one way to find out!" the line began to move and Sokka grabbed Aang and posed as if they were with a man in line. As they entered, they heard much noise. They couldn't see what was happening. Sokka again, grabbed Aang and pulled him. When they made it to the front of a large crowd they looked up to see a large stage; with poles; and girls on the poles; dancing, in small clothes. Aang's eyes were very big and Sokka just stared at one of the girls. Not in a perverted way, but he seemed to notice something, Aang looked at Sokka for a minute.

"Why are you staring at her like that?!" Aang said confused.

"Look." Sokka replied, still watching her. Aang noticed that she seemed to be staring at them, and then messed up her dance. She looked to her left then bit her lip and danced faster, still trying to see them.

"Why did she do that?" Aang looked at Sokka.

"I'm not sure, come on." Sokka replied, thinking deeply. They started to make their way to the door. Right before they opened the door, it was opened by Katara.

"What are you doing?" She said then looked up at the stage. She got an angry look and grabbed them both. As they walked, Katara lectured. After a minute they heard someone shouting at them.

"Um... Sir? Please stop! I need to talk to you!" A womanly voice shouted at them. When the looked behind them they saw the dancer from the mysterious place that they were recently at, the one who kept staring at them. She had boney legs and arms, and you could count her ribs easily. Some how she still managed to have a very large chest. She looked at Aang and whispered.

"You're the avatar, right?" Sokka, Aang and Katara all looked at each other with big eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Sokka, thinking quickly, bursted out laughing.

"The… Avatar?" He said pretending to laugh too hard to speak. Aang joined him instantly.

"Please-I recognized you..." The scrawny girl said as she showed them a wanted poster of the Avatar.

"I'm desperate, please." She continued.

"I'm sorry for- whatever it is that you need help with, but my friend here is no Avatar. We can't help you." Sokka said while turning away. The girl looked very upset, but just turned and began to walk, whipping a tear as she went.

"Wait!" Katara yelled to her. The girl stopped and Katara smiled as she reached her.

"Come with us, you look hungry." Katara said as Sokka hit his forehead and Aang shrugged. Katara grabbed her and they all walked back to the campsite. Katara questioned her the entire way.

"What's your name? How old are you? Why do you work there? How did you get the wanted poster?" Katara began as the girl looked around paranoid.

"Um… Sakura, 15, it's a long story, and I found it when I…" She paused. "Was on a walk." Katara starred at her for a minute then replied.

"Well, you can explain when we get to our camp." Sakura walked with her head down.

At the camp.

When they reached the camp they found Toph, Zuko, and Suki playing a card game. Toph, complaining. Zuko went on about how she deserved it for pushing him. As soon as they noticed them, Suki looked Sakura up and down, and her jaw dropped. Zuko glanced and shook his head, then continued the card game, cheating by looking at Suki's cards when she was in shock.

"Hello! My name is Sakura. It's so nice to meet you all." Sakura said very excitedly.

"Um... Err… Hi, I'm Suki. You too..." Suki replied unsurely. They all introduced themselves as Aang began to cook with his water bending. When Aang began putting the water into a pot, Zuko yelled at him for not fire bending the pot to make it warm.

"Why don't I get you some new clothes…?" Katara said to Sakura when she noticed Suki. Sakura followed Katara as she looked through her bag and pulled out a tunic. She kept digging for some pants, not noticing that Sakura had already taken the tunic, and went behind a tree to change.

Sakura came out smiling and thanked Katara. Sokka stared and Suki had a jealous look. Katara grabbed the pants and gave them to Sakura, explaining that the tunic was meant to be worn with pants. While that happened, Suki pulled Sokka away.

"Who is she?" Suki said with a jealous, yet angry tone.

"It's a long story… She knows who Aang is, she just wants help." Sokka said reassuringly.

"Help with what? Getting a new client!?" Suki said angrily.

"Suki! How could you say that? We don't know her-"Sokka said before she interrupted him.

"Did you see how she was dressed? And the incident with the tunic? How does she even know about Aang?" Suki continued.

"Yes, I did. She's been through a lot. She recognized him from a wanted poster…" Sokka said.

"Just because you've been through a lot, doesn't mean you dress like a –"Suki was interrupted.

"I'm sorry I am bothering you. I'll leave immediately." Sakura said then stood still with her eyes closed and her head up. Sokka and Suki both waited for her to do something, but she just stood. Finally, she opened an eye.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked with a nervous tone. They both looked at each other confusedly.

"Sakura, are you okay? What are you doing?" Sokka finally said.

"My punishment? I not only interrupter Suki, but I also bothered you with my presence." Sakura said, still waiting.

"Were not going to punish you… why would we?" Sokka said. Sakura opened both eyes, bowed then walked away. Suki and Sokka both blankly watched her, and then followed.

Sakura went back to Katara, bowed and thanked her for her help and gratitude. Then announced to her that she must leave and thanked her again.

"Why are you leaving?" Aang said, walking up to them with Zuko not far behind.

"You never told us the story." Katara said sadly thinking of the fact that she was not could not help someone.

"I am truly sorry to take advantage of your kindness and leave without repaying you. Whenever I get any amount of money I'll send it and work hard to earn more." Sakura said.

"We were going to help you! There is no need for you to repay us for any reason." Katara protested. "Please just stay with us!"

"Please. We have plenty of room in the gaang." Sokka said persuasively.

"But… Thank you, I don't want to be a burden. Or put you in danger." Sakura said trying to assure them that she should not stay.

"Danger?" Suki asked.

"My boss. He will find me… I thought the Avatar could help me, but now I know that... never mind." Sakura said still sounding upset.

"I don't know your boss, but if a random guy comes looking for you here I'll know, and beat him for ya." Toph said pounding her fist to her other hand while smiling evilly. "And besides, the Avatar can, and will help ya."

"Stay the night and decide if you still think you should leave tomorrow. Please." Aang said. They all smiled together except for Suki who was far from them.

"Welcome to the group." Suki said sourly while walking away.


	3. Chapter 3

When the gaang woke up, they found Katara doing Sakura's hair; in the same style as hers. With their dark hair and skin, bright blue eyes, and watertribe tunics, they looked nearly identical. The only differences were Sakura's underweight frame and Katara's more childish face. Katara went over to a pot and served their breakfast. All of the gaang starred at Sakura. Katara was from the watertribe, and Sakura was from the firenation. Yet, they looked much more alike.

"So Sakura, you never told me why you worked at that degrading and awful place." Katara said as they ate. Sakura starred at her hands as she spoke softly.

"They were family. I had no where else to go. I owed them my life."

"Your family? What did they do that would ever make you think that you owed them?" Katara said in her familiar feminist tone.

"Well… My boss is like a father to me. When I was born, my mother didn't want me, so she asked the fire sages for help. They agreed that I would always be unwanted so it was best to just… um, 'Let me go.' Before they could, my boss offered to take me. He told me that I should repay him by being loyal and working for him. He said that he never could adopt me because no one could know that he took me in since I was rejected by the entire firenation, it would rid him of his honor." Sakura said, thinking about each word she chose. The gaang was silent for a moment, until Sokka broke it.

"What about him, 'punishing' you?" Sokka said in a sympathetic tone.

"If anyone misbehaved, we were punished. It mostly occurred while he was drinking. He said it taught us to listen and be obedient. He has done terrible things to us. He had a closet that he would put us in…" Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath with a tear coming down her cheek. Sokka whipped it off her while pushing her hair out of her face. Sakura took another breathe then continued. "One day, when I was working as a waitress… a man tried to take me into a hallway. My sister came and protected me. She knocked him out with a glass bottle. My boss was very angry because the man could have gotten the authorities involved. He put my sister in the closet, and stayed drunk for almost three days. Finally, he got angry with me for speaking out of place. He went to throw me into the closet… but when he opened it… she was in there. Still. He pulled her body out, and threw me in… I haven't seen her since." Sakura said, now shedding a few more tears. To the gaang's surprise, it was not Sokka or Katara who went to comfort her; but it was Zuko. He silently pushed his way through and hugged her. Her face was now covered in tears. The gaang could see Zuko whisper to her then move away. He whipped her tears then she hugged him again. She bit her lip and closed her eyes trying to hold her tears.

"I am so sorry." Katara said trying to think of what else to say. Sakura nodded, still biting her bottom lip, avoiding eye contact with the group. She took a deep breathe, whipped her tears, and stood. They all ate breakfast in near silence; the only sound coming from the occasional asking how everyone had slept. Katara and Aang went to practice waterbending, Sokka and Zuko to practice sword fighting, and Toph to practice earthbending, leaving Suki and Sakura. Sakura started to clean the camp.

"I'm sorry for how I acted. I had no idea-" Suki began to apologize before Sakura interrupted.

"Don't be. Things like that happened to many of the girls who worked there. I was lucky." Sakura said smiling. After cleaning up, Sakura watched Katara and Aang waterbend. Sakura was sure to enjoy the sunny day , knowing that this could be her last.


End file.
